


monsters are always hungry, darling (and they’re only a few steps behind you)

by Zephyroh



Category: Hololive, holoMyth
Genre: F/F, Time Travel, obligatory richard siken title, tags will be updated as it goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27921154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zephyroh/pseuds/Zephyroh
Summary: « You… you don’t recognize me, do you Gura ? ». One part of Gura was trying to understand the meaning of the words. She tilted her head in confusion. Was she supposed to recognize her ? She searched her memories to find any information relating to humans that she could match with the one in front of her, but came up empty. Meanwhile, an other part of her was thinking ‘Say my name again, I like the way it sounds.’The Stranger laughed, but it sounded hollow. Bitter. Broken. « We haven’t met yet, right? ».
Relationships: Gawr Gura/Watson Amelia (hololive)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 262





	1. Prologue: Imagine a story where everything goes wrong

**Prologue: Imagine a story where everything goes wrong**

There were two things Gura was absolutely sure of.

First, that fishy was going to end up in her mouth whithin the next fifteen minutes, and her stomach growled at the thought. There was an art to fishing with only a trident and pointy teeth and maybe she hadn’t mastered it quite yet, but she compensated her lack of patience, planning and knowledge of fish behaviour with skills and quick reflexes. And that was good enough, as long as the fishy ended up in her tummy.

The second thing was that she was going to be in big trouble.

Fully aware of that fact, she nevertheless kept drifting upwards, letting the warm currents carry her body. The faintest rays of light were already perceivable through the dark waters, and her excitement grew. If anybody asked, she’d say that she let the currents take her a little too far away by inadvertence, she’s say that the fishes are easier to capture near the surface because they’re not used to being hunted by atlanteans, she’d lie and find excuses, because the real reason was she wanted to feel the sunshine on her face.

From the begining of her shark life, she’d been told to beware of the surface, beware of the humans and never approach them, never let them find the New Atlantis. _‘They’ll kill you if they catch you’_ , the elders told her and all the littles ones in the city, _‘humans are the worst creatures you can imagine on this planet’_. She’d been told so many scary stories meant to keep the youngs away from the shores that for a very long time, for her first 150 years in fact, she had done what she’d been told – always keeping to the depths of the oceans, never straying too far from the city.

But once, she had fallen alseep on a sea turtle and woke up out of the water as the turlte was slowing making its way on the beach. At first, the britghness of the ball of fire the human called ‘Sun’ burned her eyes, and it took her a good ten minutes for her eyes to ajust to the intensity. And then… she experience the Dry lands for the first time in her shark like and it changed her to the core. From that point, she would take every occasion to sneak away, evade suveillance and make her way up to feel the warmth of the sun on her face, the sand under her feet, the way the wind blew in her hair, the chimes of birds, clear to her ears, instead of the habitual muffled noises of the deep sea. The Dry lands were not as scary as the elders made them out to be, she had realized, and she wondered if it were true of humans as well. Although so far, she had never mustered the courage to try and actually find one. As brave as the 203 year old shark she was, the horrors that kept her awake at night when she was a little were still at the forefront of her mind whenever she reached the surface.

She kept absolutely still as she approached her unknowing prey, contracting her muscle, ready to pounce. Once the fish was in reaching distance, two things happened at once. Gura thrusted her trident forward the fish just as a flash of blinding light disrupted the obscurity of the water, followed by the sounf of an explosion in the far distance. A shockwave ripped through the ocean, pushing Gura and the fish away as the atlantean’s weapon missed its scales by a mere inch. The fish promplty speeded away from her, contorsioning its body as fast as it could – Gura tried in vain to snatch it in her teeth, only suceeded swallowing a huge gulp of salt water as her teeth snapped together, the sound muffled by the water.

Gura let out a cry of frustration, explusing oxygen from her otherwise rarely used lungs for maximum effect. All the animals around her were swimming away in erractic panic, creating a chaotic underwater ballet.

It was rage more that curiosity that pushed to Gura to swim towards the location of the explosion. Judging from the sounds and the angle of the wave, it appread to be only a few hundred feet away, at shore level.

She adjusted her grip on her trident, her tails pushing her forward in a swift motion and reached the beach in minutes. As she emerged from the water, reveling briefly in the now familiar sensation of the beach’s sand under her feet, she couldn’t even enjoy the sun on her skin. She was angry, hungry and she wanted to know what cause her meal to run away.

She broke into a little job, her leg muscles ajusting to the dry lands’ gravity. It was an activity she discovered she enjoyed – running on the sand as it provided such a stark contract to the constent state of weightlessness of the sea.

She arrived at what looked to have been the epicenter of the explosion that caused a small crater in the sand, just at the edge of the shore where the tranquil waves of the ocean were already starting to erase the evidence. Before she could take in the situation, a voice startled her and made her heart jump in her throat.

« Gura! I’m so glad to see you, you have no idea! My watch is all wacked up and didn’t function properly, I wasn’t sure I arrived at the right place, or time. Man, the situation is completely FUBAR! »

The first thing Gura processed was the odd accent of the Stranger. The words – english language she reckognised from her classes – seemed so bizarre, she realized that atlanteans must have lost their human acent a long time ago when they retired into the depths of the ocean. Her name on the Stranger’s tounge seemed so odd, yet not unpleasant. However, although she managed to recognize most of the words, she wasn’t sure she understood the meaning behind them.

The second thing was the all encompassing smell of blood. She was a little taken aback by the fact that she didn’t smell it sooner. Splashes of blood stained the almost white sand all round the crater, forming a trail of crimson liquid that Gura followed with her eyes.

Her gaze landed on the Stranger who had crawled her way to the rocks nearby. She had leaned her back against the rock which provided a shade from the sun. And she was in a poor state, to say the least. Gura had seen victims of oceans creatures that looked better than her. 

The Stranger was wearing strange pieces of clothing, so alien from New Atlantis’ fashion, and many layers of them which fonsued Gura. A brown mantle, on top of a white shirt and a another piece of red frabic around her neck, something else covered most of her legs and her feets were enclosed in an odd contraption that couldn’t be enjoyable to wear. Most of the fabrics were torn is many places, and covered in blood. The crimson fluid was pouring out of the Stranger left arm, which was clutching an object but Gura couldn’t manage to determine what it was ; the other one was wrapped around her waist, completely stained in red. Cuts and bruises covered most of the exposed skin Gura could see.

Eventually, Gura focused on the Stanger’s face, covered in purple hematomas, a faint trail of blood dripping out of the right corner of her mouth. She had blonde hair which was damped and sticked to her forehead, a weird object was placed her left temple which would have intrigued Gura more if she hadn’t been so enwrapped by the Stranger’s eyes. They were a clear light blue, so different from any shade of blue found in the depth of the sea. It reminded her of the sky on a sunny afternoon.

The Stranger suddenly crunched down, caught in a coughing fit as more blood spattered the ground beneath her. Gura’s shark instincts were boiling her her veins, telling her that the human was an easy prey, defensless and at her mercy – and her blood did smell particularly enticing – but the way the Stranger’s looked back up at her silenced those instincts.

« You… you don’t recognize me, do you Gura ? ». One part of Gura was trying to understand the meaning of the words. She tilted her head in confusion. Was she supposed to recognize her ? She searched her memories to find any information relating to humans that she could match with the one in front of her, but came up empty. Meanwhile, an other part of her was thinking _‘Say my name again, I like the way it sounds.’_

Something passed on the Stranger’s face, like a shadow pushing its weight onto her soul. « Oh… », she whispered. Suddenly, she looked incredibly sad and it made Gura want to reach out to her. The young atlantean had seen that kind of look before, in elders attending funerals. It was the look of someone who had seen so much of the world, and experienced undescribable sorrow.

The Stranger laughed, but it sounded hollow. Bitter. Broken. « We haven’t met yet, right? ». It was a question, however Gura didn’t think the Stranger actually expected an answer from her.

« Ah dang it, I must have messed up with the watch ! ». She tried to lift the arm that was holding the object, but it barely shifted and she growned loudly in pain. « God Gura, everything is so messed up, I don’t know what to do… ». Her voice sounded so desperate. That was a feeling Gura would relate to, as the whole interaction seemed like something out of a dream.

Blonde hair fell in front of her face as she bowed her head, and Gura mourned the loss of the blue eyes. The shark cautiously approached to kneel beside the Stranger. Tentatively, and not entirely sure of what she was doing, Gura placed one of her hand the her knees, momentarilly processing the feel the human’s skin against hers. The Stranger loked back again

The altantean focused, bringing back her memory of her classes about human, and english, to try to remember something she could say – antyhing.

« I’m a shark. », she announced porudly, one of the few english sentences she had learned to pronounce over and over again when she was young – well, younger than at the present moment.

She wasn’t sure it was something that would help the Stranger, but it was all she could communicate. However, it did seemed to have a positive outcome as the Stranger laughed again – a genuine laugh this time. She threw her head back, exposing her throat, and Gura’s heart tremmored in her chest. She wanted to hear that sound again. Soon enough though, the human started coughing violently again, wincing in pain.

Gura needed to do something. Or rather, Gura wanted to do something. She remember that human couldn’t breathe under the water, so bringing her to Atlantis wasn’t an option. But maybe she could find somebody there that could help. An old teacher of Human class maybe? Or a healer? With a sudden motivation, Gura stood up, picking her trident back up and turned toward the sea.

« Gura… ? », the stranger asked in a strained voice.

Oh right, words. Communication.

« Me, help. » she said, hoping that the Stranger would understand. The latter nodded in acknowlegment. « Alright then chief, I’m just gonna argh- just chill here for a bit ». Gura blinked, as if she understood, before turning around, heading to back to the see, before a thought stroke her.

She turned back once more – the Stranger’s eyes were still on her, unreadable. The atlantean frowned, working her brain to try and find the words she was looking for. Gods, she should have payed more attention in class… She finally settled with, « Me, Gura. You? ».

A faint smile streched the Stranger smile, and she looked back at Gura with a soft gaze. « I’m Watson. Amelia Watson. Number one detec– » But her sentence was interrupted by a splash of blood coming out of her mouth. She breathed heavily, leaning her head against the rocks, her eyes half closed as she struggled to get air into her lungs.

Gura sprang into action, running back towards the depths of the ocean, hoping that the Stranger would still be breathing when she came back, that she would laugh again, that she would say her name again.

* * *

Your eyes flutter open as a bolt of pain jolts through your body. Why is breathing so goddamn hard? Your left arm feels like a dead weight at your side – you can barely feel the cold metal of your watch. Your other arms is clenched against your stomach, and you’re too scared to see the state of what lies underneath. Your legs feel numb, and you can only feel the leather straps of the serynge holder - now useless as all the serynges are empty of their previous content - cutting into your flesh. Could it be that this is the end of you? You had escaped death so many times, you’ve never actually spared a thought about how it would actually end for you someday. You thought you’d be older, maybe. Not washed up on a beach, lost in time, and utterly alone.

The brief moment of respit that the sight of Gura provided was long gone. Your shark buddy didn’t remember you. Or rather, she couldn’t remember as you haven’t met yet. You would, thought, many years in the future, in this very same beach that had become your safe place over time. _‘The poesy of irony’_ , you think bitterly. The look on her face – blank, cold and unfeeling – devoid the warmth you had grown accostumed to, hurt more than any wounds on your body.

Your mind is racing like your heart, trying to desperatly come up with solutions, with answers, with a plan. You are trying so hard to black out the despair, and the memory of–

No. You can’t go down that road, you refuse to. If you think about what happened… No, you can still fix it. Your watch is messed up, but you can still fix it. You _will_ fix it, and then the timeline, and then save Them. All fo them.

A shadow passes by in front of you and interrupts your thoughts. Your body tenses, suddenly alert, as you wonder how you didn’t hear anyone approaching. But you soo relax at the sight in front of you.

Long, billowing black capes, a huge metal scythe, pink hair gently swaying in the wind, and glowing red eyes. Relief washes over you and you let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding.

« Oh gods, Calli, you have no idea what happy I am to see you! », you exclaim in a hoarse voice. If time travel can be a pain in the ass in terms of keeping track of who you’ve met and when, one Constant was Death herself. She wasn’t constrained by human’s perception of Time. One you’ve had met the Reaper once, you couldn’t unmeet her.

However, your sense of relief freezes in your veins like ice shards as Calli’s face remains impassive, cold even. The Reaper is sizing you up and down, showing no emotions on her face bar a slight frown of confusion.

« Well that can’t be right. », she mutters, pulling out a piece of parchment out of her cloack – paperwork telling her all about her the soul she was to take, Calli had once explained to you. The paper gave her the time and location, and updated as soon as she was near the soul to die, that way Reaper never knew in advance who they had to kill. 

« So, is this really it Calli? After so many years, my time has finally come? », you ask, and you surprise yourself at your calm demeanure. Memory floods your mind, all the near death experiences you have had over the years, even from before you became a detective. All those accidents when you were little... It was a mircale you were still breathing, and miracles couldn’t last forever.

Finally, the Repear breaks her composure, and inquires in an irrtated tone « First of, how do you know my name? Second, how the f-word are you _here_? ». She looks back at the parchment, scratching her head and muttering under her breath.

« This is the first time I’ve seen something like this », she continues, more at herself than at you. « I mean, clerical mistakes, sure. Typos, tons. Recurring customers, unfortunately– » Her tone changes at that last part and you fail to supress a snicker. So many things were Variables among timelines, but one of the Constents was that somewhere, somewhen, a certain fire chicken was always bothering Calli. « – But this? That’s a first for me. ».

She finally looks back at you, who are sharing her state of confusion. You give her a a look of _‘Don’t ask me’_. You would even have shrugged it it weren’t so painful to move.

« Care to share with the class? Everything has been so hecking weird today, I’m not sure anything could surprise me. »

One would think you had learned something over the years, and you would know better than to taunt the universe.

« We’ve already met. », Calli deadpans gravely, as if it cleared everything up.

« Yeah, no shit Sherlock, tell me something I don’t know. », you let out in frustration. You were used to people being slow or confused about the whole time travel thing, but Calli wasn’t usually one of them.

The Reaper shakes her head, frowning at the parchement before looking back at your bleeding form. « No, I mean, we’ve _already met_. Meaning: I’ve already taken your soul. ».

Your blood freezes in your veins. _‘What the- ?’_

« Amelia Watson, London, UK, age 13. Car accident, outside of a mall, July 23th of the year – »

« Wait, wait, wait, hold on » you interrupt, your brain trying to process Calli’s words. « Do you mean that in this timeline, I’ve already… died? But that shouldn’t be possible. The watch can’t take me to timeline don’t exist in some way, shape or form…. ».

Your eyes fall onto the item in clutched in your left hand. For the first time, you notice how busted up it is. The window is cracked in three places, forming a spiderweb across the glass, and a faint purple smoke coming out of it. _‘That doesn’t look good…_ ’. You squint as your vision blurrs – _‘loss of blood’_ sais the analytical part of your brain _‘soon hypothermia and loss of consciousness’_ – trying to get a better look, and that’s when you finally notice.

The needles. They have stopped moving.

_‘Oh no…’_


	2. Chapter 1: cursed night

**Chapter 1: cursed night**

Calliope Mori had already prided herself in having a perfect work ethic. She was always on time, she did the job quickly and neatly, never letting herself get overwhelmed by the tasks, or influenced by the costumers – as Death-sensei would call them. _‘Think of it as a business transaction, nothing more, nothing less’_ , he had taught her. And so, she did.

Some other Shinigamis had gotten into troubles by getting too involved in humans’ affairs – they were such emotional creatures, humans – but it had never distracted her from her job. She was here to take souls to the Underworlds, anything before, and after wasn’t her problem.

And so for the first time she started the job – when was it again? a thousand years? a few mellienias? – she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She had met problematic creatures that complicated the simple task of dying before, but rarely humans. Humans were the easiest costumers in the world. Therefore, she couldn’t comprehend what Amelia Watson was doing, breathing – admittedly with difficulty – in a remote island in the middle of the Pacific, and most of all, she didn’t know what to do about it.

Upon this pile of confusion was added the fact that Amelia Watson appeared to _know_ her, but not from when she reaped her soul. Mishaps could happen in the process of death, especially as humans developed more advanced technologies, but failsafe were put in place the case of revivals to make sure the humans never remembered anything about Shinigamis or the Underworld. But when a soul was taken to the Underworld, it could not forget dying.

‘’So huh, what happens now? You reap me again? », Amelia Watson asked in a surprisingly calm tone. Usually, humans were begging to have just a little more time or were resigned and followed her without many interjections.

Calli cleared her throat, trying to regain a semblance of composure. ‘’Oh well, hum. I’m actually not quite certain of how to proceed. I _know_ you’ve already died, because I know I did my job right. So, there must be a mistake somewhere, maybe in the administrative process? Where you send back here by accident? Although it doesn’t make sense, you shouldn’t have aged… ‘’ She trailed off, lost in her thoughts, almost forgetting the human bleeding out at her feet.

Amelia Watson coughed, a cavernous sound echoing through her ribcage. ‘’Well, whatever you do, can you do it faster? ‘Cause I’m kinda dying over there… ‘’. Her snicker was quickly lost to another coughing fit.

Absentmindedly, Calli responded, still working her brain ‘’You can’t actually die if a Reaper doesn’t take you to the Underworld. And I morally and ethically can’t reap your soul because I’ve already done it, and the paperwork isn’t right.’’ As if it was an explanation, Calli waved the piece of parchment in her hand.

‘’So, what you’re telling me is that… we’re at a _dead end_? » There was a moment of silence. And then Amelia Watson broke into a burst of giggles, muttering something like _‘Ina would have loved that one, I gotta remember it… ‘._

However, it only made Calli frown deeper. What a deeply strange human. But surprisingly not wrong, as the Reaper manual provided no insights in this kind of situation. If she reported that Amelia Watson was alive, she could be in trouble for not having done her job. And the human didn’t seem to have explanations either, or if she had, Calli wasn’t sure she could convince the master of the Underworld. The last thing Calli wanted was to get on Death-sensei bad side.

‘’Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to take you back to my place in the Underworld, fix you up a bit, until we figure this out. I’m sure someone at Human Resources will have an answer, but in the meantime, you can’t get in by the usual ways, and I can’t let you here… like that. » Calli announced, reassured that she had come up with a plan, as dangerous as it may be. ‘’And when we get there, you’re going to tell me everything you know’’, she added in an ominous tone, for good measure. Although, it didn’t seem to have the chilling effect as it usually did.

‘’Yeaaaah, sleepover at Calli’s !’’, Amelia Watson whispered weakly in a cheery voice, as her eyes were starting to close. Even though she couldn’t actually die, her body was still shutting down and her brain couldn’t take the damage.

Calli took the broken body of the detective into her arms, as the delirious human continued to ramble inaudible nonsense, and opened a portal to the Underworld.

* * *

_Just a little bit more._

_Just a few milliseconds and you will be able to reach her in time._

_Just a little bit…_

_You reach your hand out. Skin is pierced. Blood spewing everywhere. Warm droplets cover your face, and scream stuck in your throat. Blue eyes closing._

_Again._

_Just a few click of the watch; you’re so used to handling it, you don’t even have to look at it._

_Click. Tick. Whoosh._

_Again._

_You’re a few feet away, and if you’re just quick enough, you’ll get to Gura before…_

_Come on._

_Faster. Faster._ Faster _._

_Your muscle are sore. You ignore them. Your vision is blurry. Too many jumps in such a short time is not good for your body or brain. You know it, and you ignore it. You just need a few milliseconds._

_You watch, again, as Gura is taken by surprised, and your eyes meet as skin is pierced. Blood spewing everywhere. Warm droplets cover our face. A scream strangling your throat. Blue eyes meet blue eyes._

_Again._

_Just a little bit more._

_Just a little bit faster._

* * *

Amelia Watson was agitated in her sleep. She kept turning and tossing in the Reaper’s bed, tangled in the bed sheets, mumbling incoherent words. Regardless, Calliope tried her best to ignore it as she was sipping a glass of wine, going over the paperwork again. Human’s nightmares were not her problem, she reminded herself. The fact that one human was currently having one in her bed, however, was a huge problem.

She figured she’d let Amelia Watson rest and heal so she could question her later. She had not expected that.

After another loud whine, Calli gave up trying to focus, releasing the papers she had clutched in her hand, grabbed her glass of wine and went to sit by her balcony. The city spread out beneath her eyes, always moving, always restless. Blurs of dark purple and blue all around, very minimal lighting. Traffic of souls erring, demons prancing, Reapers moving in a hurry, the noise was constant thing here, and Calliope longed for some peace and quiet. The constant bustling of the city was unnerving, and a reminder of her loneliness. She worked to try and keep her mind off of it, but some cursed nights, the feeling was unavoidable. She couldn’t remember a time where she wasn’t who she was now and couldn’t help but wondering if she could do something else. Be someone else. Demons and tortured souls were hardly good company, but the literal embodiment of death didn’t make for good friends either, although she did try to socialize with them, at first. Then the boredom took over, and then the routine, and now she couldn’t remember what it was like to feel motivation for the days to come.

Ah shit, she’d done it again. Overthink till she’s become overcome with sadness. What a useless emotion, sadness was… And now her glass was empty, and her mind far to awake to handle it.

In her contemplation, she didn’t even notice that Amelia Watson had stopped stirring, or making noises altogether. When she turned around to assess the state of the human, she got caught of guard when she saw the blonde figure leaning against the doorframe of the living room, staring out of window from afar. But she wasn’t looking at the city. Her eyes were unmoving and unfocused, and she adorned a melancholic expression all too familiar to Calli – one she had herself worn many times, and probably was wearing now.

Calli moved from her position, extending her arm to carefully place her glass on the table and the bubble around Amelia Watson broke. She blinked, shifted her weight on her legs and turned her gaze to the Reaper who did not miss the mask come up to shield the raw emotions on the human’s face.

A awkward beat passed.

‘’Hum… rest well?’’ Calli asked before immediately cursing herself.

‘’I think your bed sheets would disagree. Sorry about that’’ Amelia chuckled, scratching her head in embarrassment. ‘’But at least I’m alive. Sort of. I guess. Am I, actually?’’. The question lingered in the air as Calli thought it over.

‘’In a way, I suppose. In that, you’re not _dead_. But now, we have to figure out what to do with you. How did you – ‘’ She stopped, pondering how to phrase her question. How did you survive? How did you end up washed up on a beach, bloodied and on the verge of death? How did you escape the Underworld? How did you cheat death? How did you cheat _me_? ‘’How did you end up like this, on that beach?’’. She asked with caution. Something about Amelia Watson gave off a dangerous vibe, and Calli didn’t want to poke the proverbial bear, or cause her to shut down and not share the information she had to herself.

‘’Ah, well… the beach was what I was aiming for. Now the timing? I did mess up that part. Although I think my watch is broken, so, it’s technically not my fault.’’ was the vague answer that Amelia offered.

She reached into her pocket, pulling out a pocket watch – a dented piece of metal, hanging by a chain, that was emitting an ominous dark purple smoke. She fiddled with it half-heartedly, her eyes clouded and her jaw set. She bit her lip, before turning her gaze back to the Reaper who had eyes eyebrows up in confusion, waiting for further explanation.

‘’I’m a time traveler.’’ The blonde human added as-a-matter-of-factly.

Calli blinked.

And sighed.

A time traveler, just her luck. Why was she the one ending up with the annoying creatures and messed up human?

‘’Okay, right. Why the hell not, am I right?’’ Calli deadpanned, way too tired to argue. ‘’Doesn’t explain how you’re alive, when I reaped you when you were younger.’’

‘’Yup, that’s… that’s a bit of a tricky one. Because I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.’’ When Calli shot her a death glare accompanied with a ‘duh’ expression, she put her hands up in a mock defense and added ‘’No, I mean, here as in, in this… universe, I guess? Timeline, world, pick your word. I come from somewhere where I didn’t die, and I’m not exactly sure why I ended up here. Although, _this_ is definitely not a good sign… ‘’, she added as she held up her smoking pocket watch with a concerned frown.

‘’And you can’t just…fix it?’’.

Amelia Watson clicked her tongue before letting out a hollow laugh. ‘’Well, that’s the funny thing, I maybe _could_ , theoretically although it has never been busted up quite like this, but what I need… Well, we’ll need to go back to where you found me.’’

Calli raised her eyebrows, silently pushing for more information while trying to keep her face neutral. She was swimming in unknown water here, and she hated the feeling of feeling lost and not understanding.

‘’I would need a particular component, not only for the watch, but also for my special concoction.’’ She motioned to her thigh holster which contained empty needles. Calli nodded as if she understood. ‘’Do you know of Atlantis?’’

‘’Vaguely, I think I may have been assigned to reap a few altanteans back in the days. Never lingered to visit though’’, Calli replied, trying to recall the last time she went there. She has never been a fan of the deep ocean.

‘’Shame, it’s a beautiful place…’’. There was an emotion hiding behind those words that reflected in the detective’s eye. Amelia Watson’s paused, for just a second, but it was enough for Calli to perceive a certain sense of longing and nostalgia. This place must have meant a lot for her, the Reaper thought.

The blonde cleared her throat, imperceptibly shaking her head as she went on. ‘’But also, extremely well-guarded, and what I need will be difficult to obtain.’’

‘’Is this the first time you had to fix your- clock thingy?’’ Calli wasn’t sure how to name the thing. A flash of irritation passed in Amelia’s face before she answered.

‘’This is not a ‘ _clock thingy_ ’, it’s a very intricate design that I myself modified and- you know what, it’s not important right now.’’ She breathed in deeply, pressing two fingers at the edge of her nose. ‘’I did have to fix it a couple of time before, but I also had-‘’ She paused, and averted her eyes from Calli’s inquisitive gaze. ‘’Let’s say I had special access that I do not have in this universe.’’

Amelia Watson’s sighed, running a hand through her hair. She looked impossibly tired, despite the nap she took earlier, and the healing of her wounds. And somehow, this echoed in Calli and it made her want to help the human. The detective moved to her balcony, observing mindlessly the underdark city below her. The Reaper could practically see the gears in her brain working.

After a moment of silence, the human finally turned around, a renewed determination in her eyes.

‘’The way I see it, we have two option. First one would be trying to gain my- my access back.’’ Calli didn’t fail to notice the way her voice shook slightly at that part. She didn’t react. ‘’If we can do that, we infiltrate the city, get what I need, and get out undetected. I fix my watch, and I’m out of your hair. GG easy.’’

Once again, Calli nodded as if she understood the detective. What weird, weird expressions human had, and they kept on changing over the years; the Reaper had long abandoned any will to try and keep up with their slang. She locked eyes with Amelia, asking the question that was hanging in the air. ‘’And if we can’t?’’

A glint of mischief appeared in Amelia Watson’s eye, and a smirk spread on her lips. ‘’Well then, we go in by force, and we start blastin’ ‘’.

* * *

‘’It’s time you finally learned a sense of responsibility, for once in your life!’’.

The stern recrimination ringed in Gura’s ear, and she felt her cheeks turn red. She felt hot and restless. She lowered her gaze, clenching her jaw. From the outside, she would look like the picture perfect of guilt. However, inside was raging a storm of anger.

She was so done with this dumb citadel, and its dumb people, and its dumb laws and rules. Swallowing back her snarky remarks, she simply mumbled ‘’Sorry, Elder Neex. I won’t happen again.’’ An outright lie, that they were both aware of.

The older merfolk let out an exasperated sigh, then wave his had in a dismissive motion, adding for good measure, ‘’We’ll talk about your punishment later. Get out of my sight and stay out of trouble.’’

With an unconvincing ‘yes, sir’, Gura left City Guard’s barracks, head down, heart pouding and blood boiling.

Once again, she got caught sneaking pas the atlantean’s limits into the human world, and once again, she got reprimanded by the Guard’s Captain. This ugly old fish had been on Gura’s tail for a thousand year now, talking her ear off about the same old refrain every goddamn atlantean had. ‘ _Beware the humans, Gura. Stay out of sight, Gura. Don’t interact with the humans, it’s dangerous, Gura.’_ What a bunch of stinky sissies.

As soon as she was out of the building, she hurried back to her apartment. Although small, it had a pretty good view, that she would have enjoyed had she not be in a total fury. She slammed her door closed – only briefly thinking of her neighbors who probably already hated her so, oh well – and launched her trident directly into her pillow, letting out a frustrated scream.

Bloop floated by, unfazed.

‘’These stupid rules, it’s so boooooring. I’m so done with everyone down here.’’, she whined, as she collapsed on the now sponge-covered bed, spilling out of her pierced pillow. Bloop simply blinked. She pressed two fists against her eyes, trying to calm down.

The most frustrating thing was, she couldn’t even let people know that she had had several successful interactions with humans, because that wouldn’t cause of a simple recrimination by Elder Neex, she would straight out be thrown in jail if anyone learned about it. It was one thing to toy with New Atlantis’ borders, it was another altogether to actually contact humans.

Her first human interaction was still fresh in her mind, even though it had been… Gods, how many years had it been again? She had long lost track of the passing of time. It didn’t really matter in a eternal city under the ocean anyway… But that human… Even by Gura’s very limited standard in terms of human knowledge, the blood covered blonde who talked strangely and seemed to know her felt out of the norm.

The second time she interacted with a human, she had inadvertently strayed too close to a human beach. She usually liked to stay away, but close enough to hear them. Hear the children’s laughs, scream of joys, them playing around in the sand and pry on the humans’ conversations. So was so engrossed with deciphering their behaviors – and she had dusted off her old Human Studies books, so she was getting better and better at human language, or rather, human english – that she hadn’t paid attention to her getting closer to the shore.

Soon enough, she was met with a half-duck, half-human. Or rather, than what she though then. She would later understand that younglings would wear floatable objects around their arms and waists to keep them from drowning, and the devices were often, inexplicably, shaped like animal. So, when a voice emerged from a two headed duck-human, she was quite startled.

‘’I like your shark costume. I’m a duck.’’, the youngling had said, with a big smile. Gura had merely blinked, and the youngling nodded as if it was an appropriate end to the conversation before swimming away.

Even after observing them for year, and slowly understanding that atlantean’s teachings about humans were fundamentally flawed and twisted, it had still been a baffling interaction for her. But it did, many years later, provide information as to how to infiltrate human societies unnoticed. She had procured – or rather stolen – a shark hoodie at a beach store, and that was enough for her to wander around, inconspicuous, as everyone thought she was just a young human in a costume. Even her tail didn’t make them bat an eye. Humans were so gullible, Gura had realized, much to her delight.

And so she kept returning and exploring the human world, at first very little, out fo fear of getting caught. But as the years passed, she longed more and more to explore everything on the surface. She knew New Atlantis like the back of her hand, she grew desperately bored of the ocean depths. But up there, there was so much to do…

And maybe, one day, she’d cross path with her first human, she kept wishing in her heart. She had often returned to that beach, in hope of seeing the blonde again. What was is, she called herself? _Amelia Watson_ , _number one detective_ … She had tried finding her, once she grew comfortable in the human world, but got incredibly disappointed when she learned that Amelia and Watson were, in fact, very common names, and that information became utterly useless. Still, Gura wanted to find her, although she didn’t know what she would do if that happened. Maybe she just wanted to hear her name on the blonde’s lips again…

Gura was waken up of her musings and daydreams by a hungry Bloop who, upon seeing Gura lost in her thoughts, decided to launch himself at her head, landing in the middle of her forehead with a muffled ‘thud’.

Now cooled down from her anger, she hopped on her feet and started looking for Bloop’s food in autopilot. Her mind was racing. What kept her from staying at the surface? What was holding her back here? Sure, she had family and friends, but when you live to be thousands of years old, interpersonal attachment becomes relative, and it’s wasn’t uncommon to not see your friends or relatives for many years. Maybe she could just…. Go, and not come back? People would surely assumed she move to another part of the city – after all, New Atlantis was big enough so that it wouldn’t seem strange if people just… stopped seeing her?

She set Bloop’s bowl in front of him – who excitedly wagged his tail, about to pounce on it – before grabbing him by the cheeks, offering him a toothy grin. Bloop feared his time had finally come and closed his eyes… to be then waved around as Gura was spinning on herself, still holding him.

‘’Bloop, I have come a conclusion.’’

He let out a bubble of air, a silent beg to let him go as his head was starting to spin.

‘’We are going to the human world.’’ She let the words hang in anticipation. Bloop blinked, not very impressed by the declaration. ‘’For good!’’, she added, before yeeting him to the bed. He landed next to the trident, still stuck into the pillow.

If Bloop could sigh, he would have done so in this moment.

Gura emerged on a now very familiar beach with renewed motivation. This day was the first day of her new human life, and she couldn’t be more excited. Holding a bucket of water containing a depressed Bloop – or, an overdramatic drama queen, if you asked Gura – she headed toward a little shack she had constructed over the years that held her precious human artifacts. First of all, the blue shark hoodie, her masterful disguise, and then a crate of countless trinkets that she had found and kept over years of wandering around in human beaches, ranging from a broken barbie watch to expensive sunglasses – she might have not _found_ those per se, and rather discreetly pocketed it, but hey, small difference. Popping a pair of Ray Ban on her nose, she exited the shack with a confident step, ready to take on the human world.

And then the beach exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are a few more words, still unbeta's so, apologies if my proofreading failed me!

**Author's Note:**

> Un beta'd so, apologies for the typos and mistakes. As english is not my first language, don't hesitate to shoot me a message if you see somthing unforgivable!
> 
> I'm not quite sure where the story is going yet, only have snippets in my mind so far, but I felt like writing and wanted to get the words out so, here they are.


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